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The Last 
Great Stoneman 



Raid 



By WM. BUSHONG, CO. C 



DELIVERED AT 

THE REGIMENTAL REUNION 

HELD ATBELLEFONTAINE 

1910 



The Last Great Stonemaii Raid 



BY WILLIAM BUSHONG, CO. C. 



On the 20th day of March, 1865, President lyincoln and 
General Sherman were in consultation with General Grant 
at his headquarters near Petersburg, Va., while Sherman's 
army was at Goldsboro, N. C. 

On this morning (the 20th of March), General George 
Stoneman left Knoxville, Tenn., with three brigades of 
cavalry. 

The First Brigade was commanded by Col. W. J. Palmer 
of the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry and consisted of the 15th 
Pennsylvania, the loth Michigan and the 12th Ohio. 

The Second Brigade was commanded by Col. Miller, and 
consisted of the 9th, loth and r2th Tennessee Regiments. 

The Third Brigade was commanded by Col. S. B. Brown 
of the nth Michigan, and was composed of the nth Mich- 
igan and two regiments of Kentucky troops. 

All under the personal command of General Stoneman. 

The Division moved rapidly to Strawberry Plains, 
through Bulls Gap to Jonesburrough, reaching^ the Wataga 
river on the 26th. Turning southeast, and by a rapid 
march the Division crossed the mountains into North 
Carolina. 

At Boone, N. C, the Division encountered a large force 
of home-guards, capturing four hundred prisoners. 

From Boone the column turned eastward to VV'ilksboro, 
N. C, then turning northward pushed on to Dobson, a 
town near the Virginia line, crossing into Virginia at 
Hillsville. Turning eastward passed through Jackson- 
ville, then turning northward to Christiansburg, arriving 
here on the 4th day of April. Christiansburg was a large 
town on East Tennesse and Virginia railroad. 

The surprise of the town was complete. The telegraph 
office was captured, and Stoneman's .operator taking a seat 
at the instrument chatted a half hour with the operator at 
Lynchburg before that operator suspected that he was 
imparting secrets of the dying Confederacy to a Yankee. 

The distance from Knoxville to Christiansburg is 350 
miles, but Stoneman, in his zigzag course, had traveled 
over 600 miles in fifteen days. 

If Stoneman's purpose was to deceive and confuse the 
enemy, he was remarkably successful, for his own ofiicers 
and men were kept in ignorance of the object of the 
expedition. 

At Christiansburg, while destroying the railroad, the 
truth dawned upon us; we were cutting the last avenue of 
escape that lay open to General Lee, and were a part of the 
machine by which the last great army of the Confederacy 
was to be destroyed. 



I have said that General Grant was at Petersburg. 
Stoneraan, with his troopers, was the hand with which he 
reached out to cut off Lee's escape. 

From this moment Stoneman's men felt that the end was 
near, and we would be in at the death. 

After destroying twenty-five miles of the East Tennessee 
and Virginia railroad, the Division dashed off in a south- 
easterly direction to Martinsville, West Virginia. 

From the rapidity of our march it was clear that more 
important work was ahead of us. 

Crossing into North Carolina we passed through German- 
town, Salem, Winston, and on the 9th of April we struck 
the Danville and Richmond railroad at Greensboro. Soon 
ten miles of this important railroad was destroyed. 

Twenty miles south of Greensboro lay Salisbury, the 
place of the one prison pen in the Confederacy that could 
fairly dispute the first honor with Andersonville. 

Salisbury was also an important depot of Confederate 
supplies and was garrisoned by five thousand men under 
General Gardner who, when he heard of the Yankee Cav- 
alry tearing up the railroad at Greensboro, at once marched 
out to drive away the raiders, as he well understood the im- 
portance of the Danville and Richmond railroad at this 
moment. 

The force led out from Salisbury by General Gardner to 
defend and protect this railroad censisted of four thousand 
infantry and fourteen pieces of artillery. 

This force was encountered by General Stoneman at the 
Yadkin river, about ten miles from Salisbury. 

The Union Cavalry men drew their sabers and literally 
cut the entire rebel force to pieces, capturing the fourteen 
pieces of artillery and over thirteen hundred prisoners. 

Stoneman's loss in killed and wounded was very slight. 

During the night Stoneman's force moved cautiously on, 
and before morning occupied the town of Salisbury, captur- 
ing a vast collection of ammunition, provision, clothing 
and small arms. These, with an immense amount of cotton, 
were destroyed. 

The tracks of the different railroads at this point were 
also destroyed, but that part of the work at Salisbury in 
which the soldiers took most delight, was the burning of 
the infamous prison pen in which so many thousands of 
our comrades had starved and frozen to death. There 
were the burroughs and holes which those wretched men 
had dug in the ground for a miserable shelter. 

There were the walls from which the brutal sentinels 
had fired on the starving, defenseless men, and there were 
the broad acres of thickly planted head boards, benenth 
which 12,126 soldiers of the republic, dead from starvaiion 
and exposure, were laid for their last sleep, to awake again 
at the last roll call in the great hereafter. 



A few hundred wretched survivors were found, but all 
who were able to be moved had been exchanged the pre- 
vious February. 

The sight of all this produced a profound impression 
upon officers and men. 

That they did not at once sweep the town from the face 
of the earth, was because they were soldiers actuated by a 
higher motive than even a just revenge. 

The stockade and prison buildings were burned, but no 
citizen's property was destroyed. The main purpose of 
the expedition was now accomplished. 

The East Tennessee and Virginia and the Danville and 
Richmond railroads were destroyed, and as the Coast rail- 
road from Richmond to Savannah was in the hands of 
General Sherman, Lee was hopelessly isolated from the 
Gulf States. Stoneman's work was done, and on the 17th 
of April he started on his return to Tennessee, taking with 
him the brigades of Brown and Miller. 

Col. Palmer, with his brigade, was ordered to Lincoln- 
ton, about fifty miles south of Salisbury. He found Lin- 
colton in the possession of a small force of Confederates, 
who were soon routed by Col. Palmer's escort, composed 
of Co. C. , 12th Ohio Cavalry. As the rear guard of the 
brigade entered the town a force of four or five hundred 
rebel cavalry was seen leisurely approaching. An exciting 
horse race of three or four miles ensued and a part of the 
force were captured. From the prisoners it was learned 
that they were a part of Vaughn's Brigade, who were en- 
deavoring to join Wheeler's Cavalry Division at Charlotte, 
South Carolina. 

During the night of April 19th Major E. C. Moderwell, 
of the 1 2th Ohio Cavalry, was ordered by Col. Palmer to 
take two hundred and fifty picked men and go quietly, but 
with all possible speed on an expedition to destroy a bridge 
of the Charlotte and South Carolina railroad over the 
Catawba river, a distance of eighty miles from Lincolnton. 

The Cavalry Brigades of Vaughn and Basswell Duke 
were in the Catawba Valley. Jeff Davis was at Charlotte, 
not many miles distant, under the protection of Wheeler's 
Cavalry. Both of these forces it was necessary for Moder- 
well to avoid. 

At Dallas, North Carolina, earl}^ on the morning of the 
20th, Moderwell ran upon a large force of Vaughn's Cav- 
alry. A brisk skirmish ensued and thirty-five prisoners 
were captured. 

Avoiding a general engagement, Moderwell pushed 
forward and early the next morning reached the vicinity 
of the bridge. A picket post commanded by a Lieutenant 
with about thirty men were completely surprised and cap- 
tured, without a shot being fired by either side. 



Knowing the desperate character of the situation, Moder- 
well determined to try a little stratagem. A hasty consul- 
tation with Captain DuBois settled that the Major should 
pass for General Stoneman and the Captain for General 
Gillum. Gum overcoats helped in the deception. 

Major Moderwell said in the presence of the rebel Lieu- 
tenant: "General Gillum order Captain Hill to put his 
battery in position and open fire on the bridge at once." 

At this the Lieutenant said: "General, I think the 
Major commanding will surrender if you will make the 
demand." 

(The fact is that we did not have a piece of artillery 
within a hundred miles of us that we knew of.) 

A flag of truce was sent in accompanied by the rebel 
Lieutenant with the following note: 

Headquarters U. S. Cavalry Corps. 
To the Ofiicer Commanding at the Catawba Bridge: 

Dear Sir: — In order to prevent unnecessary shedding of 
blood, I demand the unconditional surrender of the forces 
under your command. 

George Stoneman, Major General. 

Commanding U. S. Forces. 

General Gillum (Captain DuBois) represented the futility 
of attempting to hold the place, the rebel Lieutenant also 
stated what a large force he had seen and what he had 
heard General Stoneman say. 

The rebel Major stormed and swore, but finally returned 
the following reply: 
To General Stoneman, Commanding U. S. Forces: 

Sir: — Owing to the cowardly surrender of my picket post 
and in consequence of the vastly superior force of your 
command, I surrender this garrison with its military stores. 
E. M. Jones, Major Commanding. 

The garrison consisted of seven officers and two hundred 
and twenty-five men, who were soon paroled. The small 
arms of the garrison were broken to pieces and the two 
pieces of artillery were spiked and run on the bridge, which 
was fired, and in less than thirty minutes had burned from 
end to end. 

This bridge was the finest structure of its kind in the 
Confederacy, and when destroyed was beyond their power 
to rebuild. 

It was eleven hundred feet long and supported by ten 
stone piers. 

While the bridge was burning a brigade of rebel cavalry 
under General Ferguson came up on the opposite side and 
attempted to cross the river at a ford, but a few shots from 
our Spencer carbines soon taught them that it was not 
healthy to cross there. Major Moderwell held the ford 
until dark, but midnight found us thirty miles from the 
bridge. Men and horses almost exhausted, when we 



camped for the night. At daylight a rebel officer appeared 
at our picket post with a flag ot truce with a request from 
General Ferguson to General Stonemau for a cessation of 
hostilities for five days, which Modefwell eagerly granted, 
and that afternoon we joined the brigade at Dallas. 

The result of this little expedition was the destruction 
of the most important bridge in the Confederacy, the cap- 
ture of three hundred and twenty-five prisoners, two hun- 
dred and fifty small arms and two pieces of artillery. Of 
this expedition Mr. Lossing in his ''Civil War in America" 
said : "It was one of the most gallant exploits of the war. ' ' 

It was now the 22d of April, the army of Lee had gone 
down before General Grant, and Generals Sherman and 
Johnson had declared a tjuce between their two armies. 

Intelligence of the armistice reached Col. Palmer by a 
courier sent from Sherman, then in the vicinity of Raleigh. 

On the 24th Col. Palmer broke camp at Dallas and 
started toward Knoxville. At Henderson, N. C, word 
came to Palmer that the armistice was suspended. The 
same courier brought an order from Stoneman for Palmer 
to turn southward and instantly join in the pursuit of Jeff 
Davis. Here also Col. Palmer received a dispatch con- 
firming the report that President lyincoln had been 
assassinated. 

Well was it for the armies of the South that they had 
yielded before this electric poison was instilled into the 
hearts of the Union soldiers. For a moment the feeling of 
regret among the Union soldiers was that this great wrong 
could not be avenged on the field of battle. Such was the 
sentiment that nerved the officers and men of Palmer's 
brigade as they left Henderson at dawn on the 27th of 
April, 1865, to join in the pursuit of Jeff Davis. 

.Palmer moved rapidly past Kings Mountain, crossed the 
mountains that divide the Carolinas at Hickory Gap, and 
on the 29th crossed the revolutionary battlefield of Cow- 
pens, and on the same evening reached Smith's ford on 
the Pacolot river. 

Here Jeff Davis had crossed only forty-eight hours 
previous. 

On May ist the brigade reached Spartansburg, South 
Carolina. 

After marching all day and all night, on the morning of 
the second camped on the bank of the Saluda river near 
the Georgia line. After a rest of a few hours the brigade 
crossed the river on a long covered bridge, and on that day 
and night made an extraordinory march of eighty miles, 
arriving at Athens, Georgia, in the morning. This town 
up to this date had been free from Yankee invasion. 

The place contained a considerable depot of supplies, 
and a large arsenal, at which the manufacture of small 
arms and cartridges was still going on. 



At the arsenal a company of home guards attempted to 
make a defense. 

Here the brigade remained one whole day. During the 
day some men of the 12th O. V. C. took possession of a 
newspaper establishment and issued the first and only 
number of a small "extra" entitled the "Yankee Raider," 
which perhaps was read but not enjoyed by the citizens of 
the place. 

At Athens, Col. Palmer gained some vague information 
of the course of Jeff Davis, and the next day made a rapid 
march to Monroe. Georgia. Here it became apparent that 
we were on the immediate track of the fugitive Davis, and 
the brigade was deployed across the country, so as to 
sweep every road for a breadth of fifty miles. In this way 
the brigade swept over the country, capturing large parties 
of fugitives from the armies of Lee and Johnson, and sev- 
eral times coming within a few hours of Davis. In this 
way Palmer drove Davis with his family directly into the 
arms of General Wilson, who, coming up from his raid 
toward Mobile, deployed his cavalry over the country, and 
advancing toward Palmer, caught the fugitive traitor in a 
trap from which there was no escape. 

As soon as the capture of Davis was secure, Palmer sent 
word along his line directing his men to look out for the 
rabble of Confederates who were swarming from the dis- 
organized armies of Lee and Johnson, a great many of 
whom had disregarded the terms of surrender and had set 
out for their homes without signing or accepting the parole 
specified in the capitulation. 

For a few days Palmer's men were busy capturing, dis- 
arming and paroling such as came that way. Among 
those captured in this way was Major General Wheeler and 
staff, whose paroles proved to be forgeries. 

General Bragg and several other General officers, the 
Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stevens, 
fell into the hagds of Palmer. 

Our work was accomplished, and it only remained for 
Palmer to bring his men back to Tennessee, a distance of 
two hundred miles, the distance was insignificant, but our 
route lay through the track of Sherman's army the year 
before. How the remainder of the brigade reached Ten- 
nessee, we of the 12th Ohio Cavalry, never knew. 

The r2th Ohio, under the command of Lieut. Col. Bentley, 
crossed the Chattahooche river at Warsaw, and on the 13th 
of May passed the battle scarred Kennesaw and Lost 
Mountains, crossing the Georgia Railroad at Tuhlahoma, 
and on the 15th crossed the line into Alabama and camped 
at Cross Plains. 

The next day the regiment crossed the Coosa river at 
Gadsden and entered the mountain district of Northern 
Alabama, and on the i8th reached the Tennessee river at 
Kirby's Ford. Soon after going into camp on the river 



bank, a U. S. gun boat came up the river, and seeing the 
strangely dressed soldiers on shore, they ran out their guns 
for a fight, but one of the soldiers waved a small U. S. flag, 
but the naval men were with difficulty persuaded that the 
ragged and promiscuously clad regiment belonged to the 
Union army. 

Finding it impossible to cross the river here, on account 
of the swollen condition of the stream. Col. Bentley turned 
northeast, and for three days and nights traveled a-lmost 
without forage and rations over one of the roughest roads 
it had been our bad fortune to encounter. 

Finally just at sunset on the 23d of May, the first day of 
the grand review at Washington, the weary and travel 
stained regiment wound down the mountain into the valley 
of the Tennessee river at Bridgeport, Alabama. 

Here at last were rations and feed that did not have to 
be stolen. 

Since the 20th day of March the regiment had not drawn 
a government ration nor seen the National flag, except our 
regimental guidons. 

During that period we had traversed six States, had 
shared in the last and longest cavalry raid of the Civil war. 

Isolated as we were, and overshadowed by the greater 
events which had taken place just as it was sweeping 
through Virginia and the Carolinas, the Division of Stone- 
man had almost been forgotten. 

The people had seen Lee stopped in his flight by some 
unknown obstacle. They knew that Jeff Davis had been 
driven into the clutches of General Wilson and captured, 
but in their joyousness over the general result thej'- had 
been indifferent as to the methods by which it had been 
accomplished. 

This last great raid had given the final thrust to the dying 
Confederacy, but it was outshown by the grander events 
at Raleigh and Appomattox. 

General J. D. Cox, at Chicago, in 1868, referred to this 
final expedition in the following words: 

"In March, 1865, General Stoneman made another im- 
portant expedition out of East Tennessee into southwest- 
ern Virginia and the Carolinas, destroying the railroads by 
which escape from Richmond was possible for I,ee's army, 
and performed services which, but for the fact that it 
occurred during the general crash of the rebellion, would 
have attracted universal attention. 

"A little later the same dashing horseman had almost 
succeeded in capturing the person of Jefferson Davis, 
whose escort surrendered, but he himself by changing his 
direction of flight toward the Atlantic coast escaped for 
the moment, but only to fall into the hands of General 
Wilson and his gallant troopers." LIBRORY OF CONGRESS 



